FBI agents carrying out a raid at the home of former National Security Adviser John Bolton on Friday in Bethesda, Maryland. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
The below article first appeared in David Corn’s newsletter, Our Land. The newsletter comes out twice a week (most of the time) and provides behind-the-scenes stories and articles about politics, media, and culture. Subscribing costs just $5 a month—but you can sign up for a free 30-day trial.
Toward the end of The Godfather, Michael Corleone, who has risen to become the head of the crime family his father built, orders the assassinations of the heads of rival mobs—brutal murders that occur as he attends the baptism of his sister’s baby. Also on his hit list is his sister’s husband, Carlo, who has betrayed the family. Before one of Michael’s lieutenants garrotes Carlo, Michael tells him, “Today I settle all family business.”
In his second stint as president, Donald Trump has taken the same mob boss stance: settling scores with his perceived enemies. Since returning to the White House he has been on vengeance spree. He removed security details from former government officials who criticized him. He has launched or encouraged the initiation of sham investigations of former President Barack Obama, former CIA chief John Brennan, former FBI chief Jim Comey, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former special counsel Jack Smith, and others—for having dared to investigate his 2016 campaign’s contacts with Russia (as Moscow attacked the election to assist Trump) or his attempt to steal the 2020 election.
Trump and Tulsi Gabbard, his national director of intelligence, have yanked the security clearances of dozens of current and former national security officers, some who were involved in crafting the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia assaulted the 2016 campaign to help Trump, some who signed a letter in 2020 warning that stories on Hunter Biden’s laptop could be advancing Russian disinformation (which they were). Several intelligence analysts who had worked on Russia were dismissed.
At the FBI, Director Kash Patel, a Trump toady, has fired veteran agents who were involved in the Russia and January 6 probes. The Justice Department has fired prosecutors who worked on the Capitol riot criminal cases. It is investigating two Trump antagonists—Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and New York Attorney General Letitia James—for alleged mortgage fraud. (Apparently, no Republican legislator or state official is being probed for this.)
Trump also has gone after news organizations that have covered him critically and law firms that have ties to his political rivals.
As I have been saying for almost a decade, Trump is obsessed with retribution. In fact, if one were to list his psychological motivations, the top three probably would be revenge, revenge, and revenge.
And it’s not just a matter of settling old grudges. Trump has shitcanned current officials who challenged his pronouncements. This includes the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (which released figures showing a low level of job creation) and the chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency (which produced an assessment that questioned whether Trump’s attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities was a total success). Most recently, the FBI raided the home and office of John Bolton, who was Trump’s second national security adviser during his first presidency and who then became an ardent Trump critic.
The above is a partial recap. (Don’t forget Trump in 2023 suggested that Gen. Mark Milley, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who had opposed Trump on various policy matters, deserved to be executed.) None of this unexpected. For as I have been saying for almost a decade, Trump is obsessed with retribution. In fact, if one were to list his psychological motivations, the top three probably would be revenge, revenge, and revenge. Perhaps more so than money and greed—though it’s a close competition.
During the 2016 campaign, I watched videos of speeches that Trump had delivered in the years before he entered politics on the keys to his success. He had a line he often repeated that went like this: I’m going to tell you the primary rule of business that business schools and successful execs won’t tell you—if someone screws you, you must screw them back harder. Here’s one example from a 2007 speech:
It’s called “Get Even.” Get even. This isn’t your typical business speech. Get even. What this is a real business speech. You know in all fairness to Wharton, I love ’em, but they teach you some stuff that’s a lot of bullshit. When you’re in business, you get even with people that screw you. And you screw them 15 times harder. And the reason is, the reason is, the reason is, not only, not only, because of the person that you’re after, but other people watch what’s happening. Other people see you or see you or see and they see how you react.
Trump repeated this advice to crowds of thousands who paid good money to get the inside dope on how to become fabulously wealthy. (At least, it was cheaper than enrolling in Trump University!)
After reviewing a load of these appearances, I wrote an article headlined, “Trump Is Completely Obsessed with Revenge.” I noted that revenge was “embedded in his DNA” and that his “favorite form of revenge is escalation—upping the ante, screwing ’em more than they screwed you.” And I observed that “constantly behaving vengefully is hardly a positive attribute” for a president. Unfortunately, this was a point that largely went uncovered during the circus of the 2016 campaign. In the years since, I have updated that piece again and again and again—including recently in this newsletter. (See here and here.)
Yet this pathological aspect of Trump’s personality has not fully registered with the electorate. He presents as a tough guy. But a close look reveals he’s full of rage and resentment and seethes with that desire to get even and destroy his presumed foes. Is the cause his childhood, during which he was tormented by his tyrannical father? Does this stem from the initial refusal of the Manhattan elite to welcome into its ranks this brash and obnoxious self-promoter from Queens? Whatever the reason, Trump has repeatedly displayed this twisted nature of his soul. And as the GOP has become a cult, it has embraced this fundamental—and very un-Christian—feature.
Trumpian revenge has become a rallying cry for all of MAGA. And his disciples have not been shy about this mission. In a 2023 book, Patel presented a list of the Deep State denizens that deserved investigation. It was a long roster of 60 names, including Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Merrick Garland, Brennan, Clapper, Comey, as well as Republicans Bill Barr and Rod Rosenstein, who together ran the Justice Department in the first Trump administration. (Barr did much to undercut the Russia investigation and undermine special counsel Robert Mueller, but he did not go along with Trump’s plot to steal the 2020 election.) Many on the list have already been targeted by the Trump gang.
Patel ought to have recused himself from any probe related to Bolton. Yet that would have diminished his usefulness to Trump, for his job as FBI director is to extract vengeance for Trump.
Bolton was one of the so-called Deep Staters that Patel marked for revenge. And for Patel, it was personal. In his book, Patel recounts that when Trump wanted to hire Patel for the National Security Council staff, Bolton initially blocked the move. But Bolton was forced to concede and give Patel a job. Patel considered the position Bolton offered beneath him. He took it anyway and eventually gained the post he wanted—though, he claims, Bolton’s people kept trying to sabotage him.
Clearly, Patel has his own beef with Bolton. It was absurd to appoint an FBI director with a hit list. (Patel notes in his book that his Deep State roster only covers past or present officials in the executive branch; the full list includes reporters, consultants, and members of Congress. Thus, the enemies in his sights must be in the triple digits.) And it was wrong for Patel to approve the investigation of Bolton, a personal nemesis of his, for alleged mishandling of classified information—an inquiry that led to this raid. Patel ought to have recused himself from any probe related to Bolton. Yet that would have diminished his usefulness to Trump, for his job as FBI director is to extract vengeance for Trump.
In February 2024, Trump said, “I don’t care about the revenge thing…My revenge will be success.” That was a lie. Yes, one of many for Trump. But it’s a falsehood that illuminates his essence. He lusts for vengeance. He always has. And the success he has had on this front in only seven months in office is a warning that he will go much further. He must have his own list of all who have slighted or attempted to thwart him. And Trump is working his way through that call sheet. He will not stop on his own accord. As he gets away with each brazen act of revenge, he is emboldened and encouraged to continue his get-even crusade. I imagine other Democratic officials will be targeted, as will additional news organizations and, eventually, specific journalists.
Who else? Donors who have stiffed him? Business competitors who bested him in deals? If you can imagine a particular person who might be a target, I am sure Trump has already etched that name on the slate. Trump, with the expanding power he is grabbing through assorted authoritarian measures, is bolstering his ability to make his past or present foes pay for their transgressions. He will use the FBI, the IRS, the CIA, the NSA, ICE, and perhaps the military to nail his adversaries.
During the 2024 campaign, Trump exclaimed to supporters, “I am your retribution.” That was bullshit. He is his own retribution. It’s about him. In the Godfather, when Michael Corleone volunteers to kill a mob rival and a crooked police captain, he tells his brother Sonny, “It’s not personal. It’s strictly business.” For Trump, it’s not business; it’s strictly personal. When Trump was merely a reality TV celebrity, his braying about revenge was harmless. It was a schtick. Now that he is abusing the powers of the federal government to fulfill his revenge fantasies, we can see institutional guardrails crumbling. His revenge-a-thon may only be starting.